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U.S. teen Cain qualifies for 1,500M final at Worlds

U.S. teen Mary Cain has advanced to the women's 1,500-meter final at the world championships in Moscow. The 17-year-old from New York was fourth in the first heat in 4:05.21 with the top five finishers per

MOSCOW –The future of U.S. middle-distance running is 17 years old, uses words like "gosh" and "geez" and yet is so race savvy a five-time U.S. champion once tweeted, "When I grow up I want to be Mary Cain."

That was 29-year-old Nick Symmonds, who won the silver medal Tuesday in the 800 meters at the IAAF World Championships.

His race came 25 minutes after Cain used a finishing burst to place fourth in her 1,500-meter semifinal and become the youngest finalist ever in the event. The final is Thursday night.

"I can't wait to watch that," Symmonds said. "She's so talented and races with wisdom and experience well beyond her years."

Among the more seasoned members of Team USA, LaShawn Merritt, the 2008 Olympic gold medalist and 2009 world champion, and Tony McQuay went 1-2 in the men's 400 meters, with Merritt clocking a personal best 43.74 seconds. Their performance made up for the U.S. shutout in the 2012 London Olympics final.

Olympic champion Jenn Suhr placed second in the women's pole vault behind home crowd favorite Yelena Isinbayeva to win her first World Championships medal. And Symmonds' silver was the first for the U.S. in the men's 800 in 16 years.

Cain's time of 4 minutes, 5.21 seconds was her second-fastest by about a second, "which is pretty crazy as you can imagine for me," she said.

Cain said her race came down to a dip at the finish line. "You know when I was younger," she said, "like, I'm still in high school now, but when I was running in high school competitions, a few times I got beaten by a dip. So I try to master that skill and I guess it worked out."

Cain also has a formidable coach in Alberto Salazar, the former marathon great who guided Mo Farah and Galen Rupp to 2012 Olympic medals. Salazar, who is based in Oregon, coaches Cain from afar, since she lives in Bronxville, N.Y.

In the final, Cain will race against Jenny Simpson, the reigning world champion from the U.S., and Abeba Aregawi of Sweden, who has run the fastest time in the world this year (3:56.60).

"She's very smart," Symmonds said. "She's very analytical, similar to the way I am, and she's a student of the sport."

"He is so nice," Cain said of Symmonds. She remembered him telling her that after his Olympic semifinal, there was no way he could run faster, and then he dropped his time by 2 seconds.

"So I look to him as a role model," she said. "Even though I'm exhausted, hopefully I still have more in the tank. It is definitely a confidence boost."

Symmonds said that when he ran 1:42.95 to place fifth in London, he "went beyond what I thought I was humanly capable of, and Mary obviously has been doing that every time she steps on the track this year. The finals probably won't be anything different.